Heddle frame



Feb. 9, 1937.

A. B. GLOOR ET AL 2,070,164

HEDDLE FRAME Filed July 25, 1955 L- i g BY m 6M 1 4. [00 Y,

ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 9, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIE HEDDLE FRAME E. GloorApplication July 25,

4 Claims.

In a well-known type of heddle-frame for looms the heddles are strung onthin flexible horizontal upper and lower heddle bars suitably held tautin the frame proper and kept from sagging under the load of the heddlesby couplings, as hooks. which are penetrated by and thus strung on andfreely slidable along horizontal rods each of which is usually mountedin screw-eyes attached to the adjoining horizontal top or bottom bar ofthe frame proper and is held against endwise displacement by thevertical or side bars of such frame proper. If due to wear or otherincapacity a hook requires to be replaced by a new one this cannot bedone Without removing one side bar of 15 the frame proper andwithdrawing the rod on which the affected hook is strung until the rodat least clears such hook, incidentally unshipping one or more hooksfrom the rod unless the affected hook is the first one to be freed; andof course it is not practicable to perform these operations and theensuing reassembling of the parts without removing the frame from theloom.

Cne object of this invention is to make it possible to remove or apply acoupling without disestablishing the frame proper or removing the heddleframe from the loom.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 shows in front elevation, partly in sec- 30 tion; the upperright-hand corner of a heddle frame constructed in accordance with thisinvention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of what is shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3, Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an underneath plan view of the channel member shown in Figs. 1and 3;

Fig. 5 is a similar View of a slotted strip contained in said member;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the corner brace shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. '7 is a front elevation of the heddle frame as a whole.

I designates the usual wood horizontal rails having their ends formed atright angles to their longitudinal edges and 2 the metal vertical sidebars of the frame proper, the bars abutting said ends of the rails andhaving their ends bent off and secured to the outer longitudinal edgesof the rails by screws 3. Such screws being not sufiicient to maintainthe rails I against angular displacement out of the plane of the sidebars it is usual to attach by screws to the inner edges of the railsclips which pass through holes in and outwardly engage the side bars.This construc- 1935, Serial No. 33,015

tion however involves certain weakness in that the clip screws arelikely to split the wood of the rails. Hence we include as a part of theframe proper reinforcing means as follows:

A sheet metal box-like brace l complete with only four walls, two ofwhich, 4a, are parallel and spaced so as snugly to receive the innercorner of a rail l and the other two sides, ib and 4c, of which areperpendicular to each other and the latter having an extension as shown,may be formed by a stamping operation. Such brace is spot-welded or, asshown at 5, riveted to the side bar and fitted over said corner of therail, its extension having a tang M which engages a shoulder of a notchla of the rail and so holds the side bar from spreading away from therail. The extension has a hole ie to be referred to. Thus, withoutweakening the rail l materially, it is securely held againstdisplacement in the manner indicated.

A part of the frame proper and forming with each rail what we term ahorizontal rail structure is a channeled member 6 reaching from one tothe other side bar, being held against the inner edge of such rail byscrews '5 penetrating the base wall of the member, opposed to which arehere two ledges 5a defining between them a slot 8 which is locallyenlarged, as at 8a, to permit the heads of the screws to pass. Thismember incidentally reinforces the rail l. 30

The couplings 9, having hook-portions 9a open toward the rail structureand receiving therein the flexible heddle bar ill on which are strungthe heddles a, have each a head 9bat the end adjoining the railstructure and received in member 6. 35 The head is here T-shaped butwhat is material is that in the normal condition of the parts (theheddle bar received in the hook-portion of the coupling) the head iswider in a direction transverse of the slot 8 but is narrower in adirection lengthwise thereof, wherefore the coupling cannot be withdrawnfrom the slot without turning it around a vertical axis, as by firstspringing the heddle bar toward the rail structure to clear thecoupling, it being understood that the heddle bar is usually held sotaut that the coupling cannot be so turned otherwise. This constructionmakes it possible individually to remove or attach the couplings, whichit will be understood prevent the heddle bar from sagging under the loadof the heddles, without disturbing at all the frame proper.

Each end of each heddle bar penetrates a side bar and is engaged byelastic means which acts to maintain the heddle bar taut without weak 55ening or tending materially to bend the side bars and forms therewithwhat I term an elastic tension system. A wire spring II has a coil Ilaadapted to bear against the outside of the side bar, such spring beingin effect a spring-lever whose fulcrum is the coil. One extremity of thespring has a tang H b engaged in a hole in the end of the heddle bar.The other extremity extends through a hole i 2 in the side bar and intomember 6 and has a tang llc which may pass through a hole 61) in saidmember and the hole 4c in the extension of brace 4. In order to preventthe spring from falling away from the frame proper when it is detachedfrom the heddle bar the second-named extremity is formed with an archedbend lid inward of and adjoining the side bar. Formerly the heddle bartensioning springs have been supported entirely by the side bar, havinga tendency to bend the same. According to the present construction thespring is supported partly by the side bar and partly by the railstructure, its point of support on the side bar being close to the railstructure with consequent little tendency to bend it.

The couplings in a heddle frame should always be perfectly free to shiftwith the heddles as they shift their positions along the heddle bars. Toinsure this condition we provide within the channeled member 6 a stripl3 which is slotted at intervals, at l3a, to receive the headed ends ofthe couplings. This strip is free to shift some- What lengthwise of themember 6 and also up and down so that in the action of the heddle frameit frees any coupling otherwise disposed not to slide freely lengthwiseof said member.

Having thus fully described our invention what we claim is:

1. In a heddle frame, the combination of a frame proper including ahorizontal rail structure and side bars, an elastic tension systemconnecting the side bars and including a substantially horizontal heddlebar, said structure having a longitudinal slot open toward, and at oneside of the slot a ledge facing away from, the heddle bar, and acoupling having a hook-portion open toward said structure and receivingthe heddle bar and an end portion penetrating the slot and formed with ahead which in a direction transverse of the slot is wider, and in adirection lengthwise of the slot is narrower, than the slot, saidcoupling being normally confined by the heddle bar to a position inwhich the head stands with its greater width transverse of the slot.

2. In a heddle frame, the combination of a frame proper including ahorizontal rail structure and side bars, an elastic tension systemconnecting the side bars and including a substantially horizontal heddlebar, said structure having a longitudinal slot open toward, and at oneside of the slot a ledge facing away from, the heddle bar, a stripresting loosely on the ledge, a coupling having a hook-portion opentoward said structure and receiving the heddle bar and an end portionpenetrating said slot and formed with a head which overlaps the stripand in a direction transverse of the slot is wider, and in a directionlengthwise of such slot is narrower, than the slot, said coupling beingnormally confined by the heddle bar to a position in which the headstands with its greater width transverse of the slot.

3. The combination, with a frame proper including a horizontal rail,side bars and a channeled member secured to the relatively inner side ofthe rail and having its channel opening inwardly of a heddle barparallel with said member and penetrating the side bars, and springlevers respectively fulcrumed between their ends on the side bars andeach having one end penetrating the corresponding side bar and receivedin the channel of and bearing against said member and its other endengaged with the corresponding end of the heddle bar and coacting withthe other lever to hold the heddle bar in tension.

4. In a heddle frame, the combination of a frame proper including ahorizontal rail structure and side bars, a substantially horizontalelastic heddle bar, said structure having a longitudinal slot opentoward, and at one side of the slot a ledge facin away from, the heddlebar, and couplings each having a hook-portion open toward said structureand receiving the heddle bar and an end portion penetrating the slot andformed with a head which in a direction transverse of the slot is wider,and in a direction lengthwise of the slot is narrower, than the slot,said coupling being normally confined by the heddle bar to a position inwhich the head stands with its greater width transverse of the slot.

ALBERT B. GLOOR. EMIL A. GLOOR.

